Harmon Engineering bridges generations in LaFayette

BY KADIE TAYLOR

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

Harmon Engineering and Contracting Co. has a multi-generational legacy and is working to build up the LaFayette community through trust and talent.

“We're a small design-build firm,” Harmon Engineering and Contracting Vice President Austin Harmon said. “We focus heavy in civil construction, and have a couple of odd areas, we work in environmentally, and we do some just a little bit of wastewater treatment for food and beverage products — that’s a small niche market we’re in.”

Harmon said Harmon Engineering and Contracting is a family business that is reflective of the hard work of three generations of engineers — starting with his grandfather, Grady Rodney Harmon, and his dad, Woodson Thomas Harmon Sr.

“I tell everyone, I'm the luckiest person on the planet,” he said. “I came into something that I enjoy, that I'm passionate for. My grandfather was an engineer and had a variety of companies. One of the first was Harmon Engineering and Testing based out of Auburn, and it's changed names, it changed hands and moved around. My Grandfather bought out Jack Mann Construction, here in LaFayette, in the late 80s and that became Harmon Engineering & Construction and then evolved into what is now Harmon Engineering & Contracting. [We’ve been] here in Lafayette, where we were based out of, and we've been in a little bit of everything since. So, I really am the luckiest person on the planet.”

Engineer Collin Sharpe said he began working at Harmon Engineering and Contracting through a connection he made while he was in school at Auburn University, and he feels like a part of the family.

“I began working here by word of mouth,” he said. “A professor that I had at Auburn University knew them and their family really well and referred me over here. They've treated me like family — I enjoy working with a smaller group of people, and it's been rewarding.”

With the LaFayette-based business, Harmon said he enjoys seeing the work he does impact his community and the communities nearby.

“I feel that we really give them a personal touch and we get to know these people,” he said. “The people of Roanoke, we walk with them, we're out there with them, and that's huge to me — I enjoy it. I don't want to get so big that I don't have that with people… Being able to work with the hospital in Opelika, to see that and be a part of it, I can’t put into words how that really makes me proud. Being a part of the infrastructure here and working on design projects for the infrastructure here in LaFayette — that's something we're connected to.”

Through bringing civil engineering and design experience to local projects, Sharpe said Harmon Engineering and Contracting allows clients to rely on the business to understand the full scope of the work needed and connect both the design and engineering aspects of the work.

“A lot of the cities we work with, on the engineering side and the construction side, we do a lot of things design-wise, that our construction side also helps out with as well,” he said. “A lot of the people, the street departments and utility departments for all the cities we've gotten to know us well. We talk to them on the phone a lot, and they call us when they have problems — so, it's been good to create those relationships.”

With the infrastructure work and collaboration with local cities, Harmon said working with local representatives to improve the community for citizens is a result of years of developed trust.

“I think they put a lot of trust in us in what we're doing,” he said. “We were working on a board in our conference room, and there were eight or 10 of us in here, including the mayor and some of the utility departments. This is where we gathered to have a discussion about moving forward and what's next. They put a lot of faith and a lot of trust in us, and we hope it is not misplaced.”

With the impact of Harmon Engineering and Contracting on the community and local cities, the family legacy is continuing to the next generation — Harmon’s daughter.

“I have a three-year-old, and I'm just happy I can do what I can to provide for her long-term, [with her] being the next generation,” he said. “One of the projects we're working on right now is a daycare expansion for Chambers Academy, here in LaFayette, and she is a daycare student there. So literally, it directly relates to me. And then following that up, we're building a house here in LaFayette within the city limits, so that is even more back to the infrastructure. That kind of stuff makes me want to make it as good as possible for my own personal reasons as well as everybody else.”

For more information, visit www.harmonengineering.net or follow Harmon Engineering & Contracting Co. on Facebook.